"It tastes better than it looks," I told Suzanne Loudermilk, the Baltimore Magazine senior editor (and former Sun staffer) who brought the burger to the attention of Food Network Magazine.
"It also tastes better than it sounds," Loudermilk told me in a quick phone conversation discussing the burger.
We agreed that the Heart Attack on a Plate was a bit wacky, which was the type of burger the national magazine was looking for. For instance, the burger that Food Network Magazine picked for West Virginia, from Hillybilly Hot Dogs in Lesage, weighs 10 pounds.
Dave Rather, Mother's other owner, said he got the idea for the deep-fried sandwich after taking a trip to New Orleans. A restaurant there had a deep-fried roast-beef sandwich, also called Heart Attack on a Plate, he said.
"That name had a good ring to it," Rather said, and when the Federal Hill restaurant reworked its burger offerings last year, the new sandwich, with the borrowed name, was born.
The $11 burger has been selling well at Mother's since the magazine hit the newsstands this month, Rather said
One customer ordered extra bacon on his burger, McCoy said.
Another, Badger reported, ordered two. Or, in restaurant parlance, "He had a double heart attack."
